In recent decades we have witnessed the development of a new type of migration regulation and border control in Europe, North America and Australia. In this new system of controls, the focus is less on the physical crossing of territorial borders and more on the process as a whole; from airline reservations, ticketing and visa applications to monitoring individuals after arriving in the country of destination. The developing mode of border control encompasses a multiplication of borders, a multiplication of actors and a multiplication of data and technology. The question arises: Does the new form of border management in Western countries bring forward the aims of border control more effectively and does it entail new risks (for visitors/migrants)? In this article I will first outline a normative framework for evaluating current developments in border control, building on studies in political theory and the philosophy of law. I then substantiate my claim that a new type of border control is developing and present an overview of three interconnected multiplications. Next, using findings from empirical and legal studies, (likely) consequences of the multiplications will be presented. Linking these consequences to the normative framework allows us, finally, to point out risks of the currently developing system of border control.
Points for practitioners
In recent decades Western countries have introduced new measures of border control, including new technologies and new types of agents in new roles. Together, these new measures make for a new type of global border control management. Our evaluation of this development shows that it entails new types of risks, and that these risks are likely to increase if this type of management develops further along the same lines. This analysis calls for a reorientation on instruments of border control leading to a more encompassing type of risk management in this field.
Amnesty (2005) ‘Spain. The Southern Border. The State Turns its Back on the Human Rights of Refugees and Migrants’ [Electronic Version]. Amnesty International from http://www.amnestyeu.org/static/documents/Spain_detention_report_English_final.pdf
2.
Andreas, P. ( 2000) ‘Introduction: The Wall after the Wall’, in P. Andreas and T. Snyder (eds) The Wall around the West (pp. 1-11). Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
3.
Andreas, P. and Snyders, T. (eds) (2000) The Wall around the West: State Borders and Immigration Controls in North America and Europe. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
4.
Barry, B. ( 1992) ‘The Quest for Consistency: A Sceptical View’ , in B. Barry and R.E. Goodin (eds) Free Movement (pp. 279-87). New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
5.
Barry, B. and Goodin, R.E. (eds) (1992) Free Movement: Ethical Issues in the Transnational Migration of People and of Money. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
6.
Boswell, C. ( 2003) ‘The "External Dimension" of EU Immigration and Asylum Policy’, International Affairs79(3): 619-38.
7.
Broeders, D. ( 2007) ‘The New Digital Borders of Europe: EU Databases and the Surveillance of Irregular Migrants’, International Sociology22(1): 71-92.
8.
Brouwer, E. ( 2002) ‘Eurodac: Its Limitations and Temptations’ , European Journal of Migration and Law4: 231-47.
9.
Brouwer, E. ( 2008) Digital Borders and Real Rights: Effective Remedies for Third-country Nationals in the Schengen Information System. Leiden and Boston: Martinus Nijhoff.
10.
Carens, J.H. ( 1987) ‘Aliens and Citizens: The Case for Open Borders’ , Review of Politics49(2): 251-73.
11.
Carens, J.H. ( 1988) ‘Nationalism and the Exclusion of Immigrants: Lessons from Australian Immigration Policy’, in M. Gibney (ed.) Open Borders? Closed Societies? The Ethical and Political Issues (pp. 41-60). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
12.
Carens, J.H. ( 1992) ‘Refugees and the Limits of Obligation’, Public Affairs Quarterly6(1): 31-44.
13.
Carling, J. ( 2007) ‘Migration Control and Migrant Fatalities at the Spanish-African Borders’, International Migration Review41(2): 316-43.
14.
Cole, P. ( 2000) Philosophies of Exclusion: Liberal Political Theory and Immigration. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
15.
Cornelius, W.A. ( 2001) ‘Death at the Border: Efficacy and Unintended Consequences of US Immigration Control Policy’, Population and Development Review27(4): 661-85.
16.
Cornelius, W.A. (ed.) (2004) Controlling Immigration: A Global Perspective, 2nd edn. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
17.
Cornelius, W.A. and Salehyan, I. ( 2007) ‘Does Border Enforcement deter Unauthorized Immigration? The Case of Mexican Migration to the United States of America’, Regulation and Governance1(2): 139-53.
18.
Edwards, A. ( 2003) ‘Tampering with Refugee Protection: The Case of Australia’, International Journal of Refugee Law15(2): 192-211.
19.
Engbersen, G. ( 2001) ‘The Unanticipated Consequences of Panopticon Europe: Residence Strategies of Illegal Immigrants’, in V. Guiraudon and C. Joppke (eds) Controling a New Migration World (pp. 222-46). London: Routledge.
20.
Feinberg, J. ( 1986) Harm to Self. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
21.
Gans, C. ( 1998) ‘Nationalism and Immigration’, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice1(2): 159-80.
22.
Groenendijk, C.A. ( 2003) ‘New Borders behind Old Ones: Post-Schengen Controls Behind the Internal Borders and Inside the Netherlands and Germany’ , In C.A. Groenendijk (ed.) In Search of Europe’s Borders (pp. 131-46). The Hague: Kluwer.
23.
Guerette, R.T. ( 2005) ‘Border Enforcement, Organized Crime, and Deaths of Smuggled Migrants on the United States-Mexico Border’, European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research11(2): 159-74.
24.
Guerette, R.T. ( 2007) Migrant Death: Border Safety and Situational Crime Prevention on the US- Mexico Divide. New York: LFB Scholarly.
25.
Guild, E. ( 2001) Moving the Borders of Europe. Nijmegen : Faculty of Law.
26.
Guild, E. ( 2006) ‘The Policy of the EU in the Field of Border Control and the Fight against Organised Crime: How does it Impact on the Promotion of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in Third Countries?’ Briefing Note for the European Parliament. Sub-committee on Human Rights (12 September).
27.
Guiraudon, V. ( 2001) ‘De-nationalizing Control: Analyzing State Responses to Constraints on Migration Control’, in V. Guiraudon and C. Joppke (eds) Controlling a New Migration World (pp. 31-64). London: Routledge.
28.
Guiraudon, V. ( 2003) ‘Before the EU Border: Remote Control of the "Huddled Masses"’, In K. Groenendijk, E. Guild and P. Minderhoud (eds) In Search of Europe’s Borders (pp. 191-214). The Hague: Kluwer.
29.
Heckman, F. ( 2007) ‘Towards a Better Understanding of Human Smuggling’ [Electronic Version]. IMISCOE Policy Brief from http://www.imiscoe.org/publications/policybriefs/documents/No5Heckmansmuggling.pdf
30.
Jandl, M. ( 2007) ‘Irregular Migration, Human Smuggling, and the Eastern Enlargement of the European Union’, International Migration Review41(2): 291-315.
31.
Kant, I. (1795/1991) Zum ewigen Frieden (ed. H. Reiss). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
32.
Kesby, A. ( 2007) ‘The Shifting and Multiple Border and International Law‘, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies27(1): 101-19.
33.
Lahav, G. ( 2004) Immigration and Politics in the New Europe: Reinventing Borders. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
34.
Lahav, G. and Guiraudon, V. ( 2000) ‘Comparative Perspectives on Border Control: Away from the Border and Outside the State’, in P. Andreas and T. Snyders (eds) The Wall around the West: State Borders and Immigration Controls in North America and Europe (pp. 55-79). Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
35.
Lavenex, S. ( 1998) ‘"Passing the Buck": European Union Refugee Policies towards Central and Eastern Europe’, Journal of Refugee Studies11(2): 126-45.
36.
Lavenex, S. ( 2006) ‘Shifting Up and Out: The Foreign Policy of European Immigration Control’, West European Studies29(2): 329-50.
37.
Leenders, M. ( 1993) Ongenode gasten: van traditioneel asielrecht naar immigratiebeleid 1825- 1938. Hilversum: Verloren .
38.
Locke, J. (1690/1982) Two Treatises on Government. London: Dent.
39.
Margalit, A. ( 1996) The Decent Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Muhlhausen, D.B. ( 2006) ‘Building a Better Border: What the Experts Say’ [Electronic Version] from http://www.heritage.org/Research/Immigration/bg1952.cfm
42.
Nozick, R. ( 1974) Anarchy, State, and Utopia. New York : Basic Books.
43.
NRC-Handelsblad (2008) 2 August.
44.
Pijpers, R. and Van Houtum, H. ( 2005) ‘Towards a Gated Community’ [Electronic Version]. EuroZine 12 January from www.eurozine.com
Risse, M. ( 2008) ‘On the Morality of Immigration’, Ethics and International Affairs22(1): 25-33.
47.
Sassen, S. ( 2006) ‘Migration Policy: From Control to Governance’ [Electronic Version]. OpenDemocracy 13 July from www.OpenDemocracy.net
48.
Saux, M.S. ( 2007) ‘Immigration and Terrorism: A Constructed Connection’ , European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research13(1/2): 57-72.
49.
Schloenhardt, A. ( 2001) ‘Trafficking in Migrants: Illegal Migration and Organized Crime in Australia and the Asia Pacific Region’, International Journal of the Sociology of Law29: 331-78.
50.
Scholten, S. and Minderhoud, P. ( 2008) ‘Regulating Immigration Control: Carrier Sanctions in the Netherlands’, European Journal of Migration and Law10: 123-47.
51.
Singer, P. and Singer, R. ( 1988) ‘The Ethics of Refugee Policy’, in M. Gibney (ed.) Open Borders? Closed Societies? The Ethical and Political Issues (pp. 112-30). Westport, CT : Greenwood Press.
52.
Spijkerboer, T. ( 2007) ‘The Human Costs of Border Control’, European Journal of Migration and Law9: 127-39.
53.
Stratton, J. and McCann, S. (eds) (2002) ‘Staring into the Abyss: Confronting the Absence of Decency in Australian Refugee Law and Policy Development’ , Australian Journal of Human Rights8(1): 141-56.
54.
Tamir, Y. ( 1993) Liberal Nationalism. Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press.
55.
Tholen, B. ( 1997) Vreemdelingenbeleid en rechtvaardigheid? [Justice in Migration Policy?]. Nijmegen: GNI.
56.
Tholen, B. ( 2004) ‘The Europeanisation of Migration Policy: The Normative Dimensions’, European Journal of Migration and Law6(4): 322-51.
57.
Tholen, B. ( 2009) ‘Privileging the Near and Dear? Evaluating Special Ties Considerations in European Migration Policy’, Ethnicities9(1): 32-52.
58.
Torpey, J. ( 2000) The Invention of the Passport: Surveillance, Citizenship and the State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
59.
Twomey, P. ( 2000) ‘Europe’s Other Market: Trafficking in People’ , European Journal of Migration and Law2(1): 1-36.
60.
Walzer, M. ( 1983) Spheres of Justice: A Defense of Pluralism and Equality . Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
61.
Woodward, J. ( 1992) ‘Commentary: Liberalism and Migration’, in B. Barry and R.E. Goodin (eds) Free Movement. Ethical Issues in the Transnational Migration of People and Money (pp. 59-84). Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
62.
Zolberg, A.R. ( 2003) ‘The Archaeology of "Remote Control"’, in A. Fahrmeir (ed.) Migration Control in the North Atlantic World: The Evolution of State Practices in Europe and the US from the French Revolution to the Inter-war Period (pp. 195-222). Oxford: Berghahn.
63.
Zolberg, A.R. ( 2006) A Nation by Design: Immigration Policy in the Fashioning of America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
